Résumé / Web edition

Dennis Griffin Ed.D.

www.DennisRGriffin.com

Learning strategy & talent development leader

I bring 15+ years of experience in learning strategy and talent development. I connect learning priorities to the work people need to do, help teams deliver useful support, and use research and measurement to examine workplace application.

Columbus, Ohio · Hybrid and remote

Leadership in practice

Selected contributions.

Figures are approximate and reflect my account of the work.

  • Rebuilt evaluation for more than 100 courses. The Nationwide Learning Leaders Council adopted the standard across the enterprise.

  • Brought stakeholder feedback in earlier and introduced rubrics and a tiered build menu. Development time dropped from six to eight weeks to about three.

  • Led a team of about 10 that fixed roughly 100 broken courses in about two weeks during the LMS migration.

Allstate InsuranceJanuary 2025–Present

Practice Leader, Research, Intelligence and Insights

Sales Enablement and Data Analytics

  • Built a distribution research and insights function and put its operating practices in place.
  • Used field research, survey findings, and workflow evidence to recommend where people needed support.
  • Led research practices including Agent Voice, persona research, pulse survey design, and change readiness work.
Allstate InsuranceDecember 2021–January 2025

Learning Measurement and Insights Leader

Allstate Claims University

  • Led learning measurement and insights, including evaluation strategy, dashboards, reporting operations, and support for leadership decisions.
  • Defined team responsibilities and delivery standards. Established review practices and ways of working with stakeholders.
  • Developed evaluation approaches spanning reaction, learning, behavior transfer, and business signals.
Nationwide InsuranceFebruary 2020–December 2021

Manager, User Experience (UX) Research Operations & Applied Insights

Enterprise Innovation & Digital Operations

  • Led UX research operations and applied insights practices across multiple product lines.
  • Managed user-testing platforms and developed governance standards, research playbooks, and upskilling resources.
Nationwide InsuranceMarch 2018–February 2020

User Experience (UX) Researcher

Enterprise Innovation & Digital Organization

  • Used usability research, experience mapping, A/B testing, and task analysis to develop design recommendations.
  • Managed research platforms and governance standards.
Nationwide InsuranceAugust 2015–March 2018

Manager, Learning and Performance

Nationwide Academy

  • Partnered with business and HR leaders to align learning investments with talent priorities and capability gaps.
  • Used interviews, performance data, and stakeholder input to diagnose needs and recommend learning, workflow, or blended solutions.
  • Led an instructional design team serving a distributed agency network. Guided needs analysis, solution strategy, and learning delivery across exclusive and independent channels.
  • Established governance manuals, calibration practices, scoring rubrics, and design standards.
Nationwide InsuranceAugust 2013–August 2015

Manager, eLearning Design and Development

Nationwide Agency Sales Academy

  • Led eLearning developers and multimedia designers.
  • Built reusable templates, UX standards, multimedia asset libraries, and rapid prototyping practices.

Earlier experience

Director of Adult Education · American Institute of Alternative Medicine · July 2007–July 2012

Adult education strategy, curriculum design, competency assessment, and accreditation documentation.

HR Manager · Pearson · 2006–2008

HR operations, talent acquisition, onboarding, and employee development.

Build capability

Learning & talent

Learning strategy, instructional design, performance consulting, and competency assessment.

Support the team

Learning operations

Team leadership, learning platforms, delivery standards, and ways of working with stakeholders.

Read the evidence

Evidence & insight

Learning measurement, qualitative research, UX, analytics, and decision support.

Explore the experience

Choose a focus.

Read the full résumé

Follow an area of the work to its supporting case or writing. The career history above provides the wider context.

4 connections for Learning & Impact

Learning measurement and transfer

Levels 1–3 strategy authorship and a 90-day Level 3 mixed-method study, with team revision and adoption across Levels 1–4.

A measurement strategy and follow-up study, presented with examples that explain the approach.

Read the learning case

Rubrics and learning quality

Rubric criteria, review procedures, and an implementation plan for Nationwide Academy.

The available materials document the review process and implementation plan.

Explore the documented work

Learning strategy and talent development

Needs diagnosis, learning design, team standards, and coordination with business and HR leaders.

Résumé experience and a practitioner essay explaining the approach. The essay explains how I connect a performance question to a learning response.

Read the approach

Questions about work

Field research, surveys, task analysis, and workflow evidence to identify where people need support.

Selected public work. Each case identifies the available evidence and its limits.

Explore selected work

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Leadership and Organizational Learning

Trident University International

Education Specialist (Ed.S.)

Adult Learning & Workforce Development

Walden University

Master of Management (M.M.)

Human Resources Management

University of Phoenix

Master of Science (M.S.)

Training and Development: Adult and Continuous Education

Marshall University

Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

Cognitive Psychology

Marshall University

Research & measurement

Doctoral research.

In this qualitative doctoral study, I used Kirkpatrick’s New World Model to frame survey questions about a project management reskilling course. Through thematic analysis, I examined participants’ perceptions of relevance, job applicability, and confidence in applying new skills.

Setting
A Fortune 100 insurance and financial services organization in the Midwestern United States.
Sample
A convenience sample of 15 business partners and project professionals who did not report directly to me.

Participant feedback does not, by itself, establish learning gains, workplace transfer, or business impact.

Griffin, D. (2025). Evaluating Participant Feedback Using Kirkpatrick’s New World Model: Qualitative Insights From a Project Management Reskilling Course (Doctoral dissertation, Trident University International).

View ProQuest record
Learning & talent platforms
Workday Learning, Cornerstone, SuccessFactors, Degreed, Meridian
Research & analytics
Power BI, SPSS, NVivo, Qualtrics, UserTesting, UserZoom, Voxpopme
Learning design
Articulate Storyline, Lectora, Audacity, Synthesia
Collaboration & AI
Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Notion, Mural, Miro, Microsoft Teams

A conversation about the work

Hiring for learning leadership?

I’d welcome a conversation about your learning, performance, and measurement priorities.

Email Dennis